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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I can't help but notice how many folks who vociferously proclaim their patriotism are perfectly comfortable hating half of America.

I also can't help but notice it's the same bunch who differentiate themselves from New Yorkers as the "real Americans" (in the words of the inimitable Ms. Palin) 364 days of the year.

It makes me wonder if their so-called patriotism is anything 
more than self-congratulatory, narrow-minded hatred of others masquerading fearfully as self-love.

I'm not one of the 47% Mitt Romney doesn't care about, though I have been before. I'm not that old, but there have been times that I've barely scraped by and there have been times I've been quite well off. I don't expect the possibility of falling back further down the economic ladder will go away any time soon. In this respect, I'm like a lot of Americans.

I'm lucky enough to have a family that's supported me and that continues to provide a safety net that allows me to take risks. We may not have had quite the resources the Romneys have, but we look a hell of a lot more like his clan than most Americans do. If he met me on the street, I'm sure he'd think I was squarely in his base.

I'm not one of the 47% that Mitt Romney has no interest in being the president of, but I'm far more proud to call them fellow Americans than I am Mitt Romney. Mitt and his well heeled donors are happy to demonize these guys as moochers while they themselves park far bigger chunks of money offshores --- outside of America --- than you and I will ever see. But they're the good Americans.

And you know what? My America is big enough for them, too if they're willing to pay their fair share. The trouble is they aren't and they'll do anything to make sure they don't.

In my America, there's no distinction between real America and the fake America. The extremely white suburbs I grew up in are every bit as much a feature of America as the multiethnic, diverse urban areas that I preferred as an adult. The desperate housewives who watched over my friends and me aren't any less American than the many forms of "alternative families" that are becoming the norm. And my relatives whose ancestors crossed the American plains aren't any less vital to what America means now than the undocumented immigrants who put food on their table today.

I think maybe they're so afraid of homosexuals and the poor, working women, Arabs and "illegals" because they're afraid that if they acknowledged the authenticity of these other equally American experiences they'd lose ownership of the story that they think they belongs to them.

You know what I call that?

Entitlement. And here Romneys correct: it's a pernicious myth.

It would be hilarious to hear Romney rail against entitlement if it weren't so damn scary.

So tell you what Mittens -- you keep running on a platform that pretends that only the entitled matter. You keep pretending that you are going to be president of a country that looks just like you.

Me? I'm going to stand with all those Americans who don't fit into your America. And you know what we're going to do? In November, we're going to re-elect a President who, whatever his imperfections (and there are many), speaks for all of us.[/quote]

I hope you live in a swing state![/quote]

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